Neighbors' work to save Butters Canyon pays off

ENVIRONMENT

Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published
4:00 am PST, Friday, March 5, 2010

David Barron, is the president and director of the Butters Canyon Conservancy, in Oakland, Calif. on Tuesday Mar. 2, 2010, with Peralta Creek trickling by. The City of Oakland has managed to scrape together enough money to save the Oakland Hills Canyon from development. less

David Barron, is the president and director of the Butters Canyon Conservancy, in Oakland, Calif. on Tuesday Mar. 2, 2010, with Peralta Creek trickling by. The City of Oakland has managed to scrape together ... more

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

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David Barron, is the president and director of the Butters Canyon Conservancy, in Oakland, Calif. on Tuesday Mar. 2, 2010, with Peralta Creek trickling by. The City of Oakland has managed to scrape together enough money to save the Oakland Hills Canyon from development. less

David Barron, is the president and director of the Butters Canyon Conservancy, in Oakland, Calif. on Tuesday Mar. 2, 2010, with Peralta Creek trickling by. The City of Oakland has managed to scrape together ... more

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

Neighbors' work to save Butters Canyon pays off

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Butters Canyon is so small it's barely a green sliver on the map.

But its lush hillsides, roaring creek and forest of bay trees flavor an entire neighborhood, transforming its pocket of the Oakland hills into a rural paradise.

"You won't find anything else like it," said David Barron, a neighbor who's worked to save the canyon from development. "It's so pristine, so peaceful. I was astonished to find it was here."

Last week, neighbors purchased the last of 13 parcels in the canyon, capping a 9-year effort to preserve the 1/2-mile open space in perpetuity.

They did it entirely on their own, raising nearly $800,000 through yard sales, grants, loans and donations.

"Hats off to them," said Tim Wirth, Bay Area director of the Trust for Public Land. "They saw a real opportunity here and were able to reach a tremendous outcome."

The Butters Canyon Conservancy, a nonprofit formed by a few dozen neighbors, will maintain the canyon and keep it accessible to bicyclists, hikers, dog-walkers and those just seeking relief from city life.

The effort started in 2001, when a developer planned to build a home in the secluded, steep canyon just south of Joaquin Miller Road. Afraid they'd lose their green oasis, which is also the headwaters of Peralta Creek, neighbors started raising money to usurp development plans.

Because the canyon is not contiguous to any other open space, the East Bay Regional Park District, Oakland parks department and other open space groups were not interested in purchasing the vacant lots lining the canyon. So neighbors formed their own land trust and set about saving the canyon themselves.

"It was like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride," said Barron, head of the conservancy board. "Every time a lot came up for sale, we'd send out this panicked broadcast to the neighborhood, asking for money."

Most of the funding came through Measure DD, a $200 million bond that Oakland voters passed in 2002. With help from city Councilwoman Jean Quan's office, the conservancy obtained more than $500,000 to purchase four of the properties. Three lots were donated, three were secured through conservation easements and remaining parcels already have homes on far corners.

"The first time I saw Butters Canyon I fell in love with it," said Quan. "It's this amazing respite in an urban area, and if we don't work now to save these canyons they'll be gone forever."

Oakland has taken advantage of the slumping real estate market to save four other canyons, as well. The city has purchased Castle Canyon, 10 acres near Joaquin Miller Park, 5-acre Beaconsfield Canyon off Ascot Drive, and Dunsmuir Heights Canyon, 62 acres behind the Dunsmuir House.

Several more acquisitions are in the works, said Joel Peter, manager of Measure DD.

"We want to protect as much watershed as we can," he said. "And right now the taxpayers' dollars go a lot further than they used to."

Butters Canyon has no bigger fan than Sam Fletcher, 12, who was walking two puppies there with his friends Tuesday.

Sam and his pals like to throw sticks for the dogs, stomp in the creek and explore a derelict tree house.

"Now we can play down here as much as we want," he said. "And there's no gigantic homes in the way."